Member for the formation of weaving sheds and for the beating up of the weft on manufal weaving appliance



FOR LIAN W. NICOLET MEMBER FOR THE FORMATION OF WEAVING SHEDS AND SEATING UP OF THE WEFT ON MANUAL WEAVING APP Filed June 14, 1961 Oct. 8, 1963 United States Patent MEMBER FOR THE FORMATION OF WEAVING SHEDS AND FOR THE BEATING UP OF THE WEFT ON MANUAL WEAVING APPLIANCE Walter Nicolet, 19 Rue Daniel-Jeanrichard, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland Filed June 14, 1961, Ser. No. 117,180 Claims priority, application Switzerland June 25, 1960 2 Claims. (Cl. 13933) The present invention relates to a shed-forming and weft beating up member for manual weaving appliances, and has the main object of providing a member of the kind referred to which is carried exclusively by the warp threads by their tension and which keeps the weaving shed open for the insertion of the weft exclusively by its shape and without requiring any guide means. a

It is another object of the invention to provide a member of the kind referred to, which can be shifted along the warp threads to the most suitable place for forming the sheds, in accordance with the progress of the fabric being woven.

It is yet another object of the invention to provide a member of the kind referred to, which positively spreads out the warp threads in opposite direction when forming a shed.

It is still another object of the invention to provide a member of the kind referred to which by itself or in combination with a simple auxiliary member permits the beating up of the weft, in the latter case even of heavy weft material such astextile strips.

With these and other objects in view, which will become apparent later from this specification and the accompanying drawings, 1 provide a member for theformation of weaving sheds and for the beating up of the weft on manual weaving appliances consisting of stiff strip material regularly folded zig-zag at equal depth of the folds and having two mutually opposite rows of holes at its bends through which the warp threads are passed and which in the basic position of said member lie in the same plane as the said warp threads in the closed position ofthe shed, the two different sheds being opened by turning the said member about its longitudinal axis alternately in both directions and the weft thread being beat up by moving the said member in its basic position along the warp threads towards the fell of the fabric being woven.

These and other features of my said invention will be readily understood from the following description of an embodiment thereof given by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the shed-forming member,

FIG. 2 shows the shed-forming member in the basic position,

FIG. 3 shows the shed-forming member turned upward,

FIG. 4 shows the shed-forming member turned downward,

FIG. 5 shows the weaving shed from the side, with a rail.

A suitably shaped shed-forming member 1 is shown in FIG. 1 in plan View. It consists of a strip of stiff material such as metal, synthetic material, pressed paper or the like regularly folded zig-zag at equal depths of folding. At the folding lines 3, holes 4, 5 are provided, whereby two parallel rows of holes are formed opposite of one another, through which the threads 6 of the warp are passed. The cranked end portions 2 serve as hand grips for turning the member 1 as Well as for beating up the weft.

In FIG. 2 the shed-forming member 1 is shown in per- 3,106,228 Ice Patented Oct. 8, 1963 warp threads 6 6 etc. pass through the rear row of holes, and the odd-numbered warp threads 6 6 etc. pass through the forward row of holes.

As soon as this shed-forming member is turned about its longitudinal axis, the two rows of holes are positively turned with their warp threads in opposite directions out of the plane of the warp threads, and accordingly form a Weaving shed.

In FIG. 3 the aforesaid action of the shed-forming member is illustrated. While the same is turned about its longitudinal axis with its forward row of holes upward, the rear row of holes is necessarily swung downward, whereby the odd warp threads 6 6 etc. are moved upward, and the even warp threads 6 6 etc. are moved downward, so as to form a shed which has its largest dimension when the shed-forming member is turned It is clearly visible how the point of a warp thread emerging from a hole 4 slides off over the bend while the other part of said warp thread within the bend is still slightly away from the outer boundary. The same applies to the warp threads 6 etc. in the holes 5, but in the reverse. Thereby it is made possible to turn the shed-forming member still slightly further, whereby the mutual tension of the warp prevents it from turning back by itself and whereby the shed is kept safely opened for the insertion of the weft.

In order to facilitate the sliding off of the warp threads when opening the shed, the holes are arranged slightly laterally offset viz. so that the generatrix at the apex of the bend is tangential to their circumference.

After the insertion of the weft, the shed-forming member is turned back to its starting position (FIG. 2). The two rows of holes then lie again in the same plane with the warp threads and with the inserted weft thread, the shed being then closed.

The shed-forming member now takes over quite a different function. From FIGS. 1 and 2 it can be seen that this member is not only for-med suitable for the formation of the shed, but also for beating up the weft. Owing to the offset arrangement of the shed-forming points the holes for the passage of the threads could be dimensioned with wide clearance. Accordingly the member can be readily moved to-and-fro in the basic position and thus be used for beating up the weft.

This is just the case, when the weft thread recently inserted has to be incorponated into the fabric by using the same member by means of which previously the shed has been formed, by guiding the same towards the fell of the cloth, pushing the weft thread that lies between the warp threads ahead of it. After this weft thread has been pressed into the fabric by this member, the same is restored to its basic position and functions again for the shed-formation.

By turning this member downwardly the change of sheds is effected and, as illustratedin FIG. 4, the second shed is for-med, viz. this time with the odd warp threads 6 6 etc. down, and with the even warp threads 6 6 etc. up. Again the tension of the warp threads prevents the unintentional turning-back of the shed-forming member and thus secures the weaving shed in the open position for the insertion of the weft.

After the weft has again been inserted in the manner usual for manually operated weaving appliances, the shedforming member is returned to the rest position and is again used as a member for beating up the weft, pushing again a weft thread into the fabric. When restored again 7 3 to the starting position, it is ready anew for the insertion of the weft.

Thereby the working cycle is completed. The structure or shape of this shed-forming member having the two inter-related rows of holes in the folded strip corresponds functionally to a device having two weaving shafts and is suitable only for the production of linen texture and its derivatives.

This shed-forming member may be given a stiff or a more or less resilient structure depending on the choice of material, thickness and width of the strip, and depth of the folds. A resilient structure is appropriate where the shed-forming member is to be expanded in the longitudinal axis for a more convenient insertion of the warp threads, or when one intends to follow up therewith the shrinkage in width when beating up the weft, by squeezing the folds nearer to one another.

With this shed-forming member one may produce even heavy fabrics when providing stifieners in the strip and thereby considerably reinforcing the same. A very strong shed-forming member is obtained also by casting the same from a suitable material, selecting at the same time likewise suitable shape as expressed by the folding of a strip. Moreover the casting method has the advantage that by adding material at the folds the folded body may be substantially reinforced.

It is a great advantage of this simple shed-forming and weft heating or weft beating up member, that it may be handled easily since it is carried exclusively by the warp thread and the tension thereof and keeps the weaving shed open for the insertion of the Weft without any auxiliary means, exclusively by its shape and by the tension of the warp, and does not require any device for its guidance. For this reason it may be applied always at the place most favourable for the shed-formation. For example it may gradually be shifted in accordance with the progress of the weaving.

A further advantage consists in the positive formation of the sheds. While many manual weaving appliances have the disadvantage, that for the formation of the weaving shed only half of the warp thread can be raised and thereby an unevenly stretched weaving shed is obtained, both halves of the warp are here vigorously spaced apart simultaneously and positively.

Finally the low weight of this shed-forming and weft heating or weft beating up member is emphasized, when made of a synthetic substance.

In FIGS. 3 and 4 strip material has been omitted on the right hand side grip in order to make visible the position of the warp threads 6 and 6 in their widest spacing. For the sake of clarity in these figures the two first warp threads only of the lower row of holes have been shown,

While I have described herein and illustrated in the accompanying drawings what may be considered a typical and particularly useful embodiment of my said invention, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit myself to the particular details and dimensions described and illustrated; for obvious modifications will occur to a person skilled in the art.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. A combined shed-forming and weft beating device for handlooms, comprising an elongated strip of rigid material regularly folded in zig Zag shape with each fold of equal depth and provided at the crest of each fold with a hole to form two parallel rows of holes for the Warp threads, one row on each side of the strip, whereby the sheds may be opened by turning said device, supported by the warp threads alone, in either direction about the longitudinal axis of said device from a basic position in which the sheds are closed and in which said device is movable along the warp threads towards the fell of the fabric being Woven to serve as a weft beating means.

2. A combined shed-forming and weft beating device as set forth in claim 1, in which said holes are slightly offset laterally from said crests, the geometrical generatrix at each of said crests being tangential to the circumference of the hole.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 392,859 Fichtner Nov. 13, 1888 1,160,132 Bliss Nov. 16, 1915 2,437,716 Tiefenthal Mar. 16, 1948 2,817,366 Sakano Dec. 24, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 596,799 Germany May 11, 1934 614,762 Germany June 17, 1935 135,152 Great Britain Nov. 20, 1919 160,321 Great Britain Mar. 24, 1921 231,235 Switzerland June 1, 1944 

1. A COMBINED SHED-FORMING AND WEFT BEATING DEVICE FOR HANDLOOMS, COMPRISING AN ELONGATED STRIP OF RIGID MATERIAL REGULARLY FOLDED IN ZIG ZAG SHAPE WITH EACH FOLD OF EQUAL DEPTH AND PROVIDED AT THE CREST OF EACH FOLD WITH A HOLE TO FORM TWO PARALLE ROWS OF HOLES OF THE WARP THREADS, ONE ROW ON EACH SIDE OF THE STRIP, WHEREBY THE SHEDS MAY BE OPENED BY TURNING SAID DEVICE, SUPPORTED BY THE WARP THREADS ALONE, IN EITHER DIRECTION ABOUT THE LONGITUDINAL AXIS OF SAID DEVICE FROM A BASIC POSITION IN WHICH THE SHEDS ARE CLOSED AND IN WHICH SAID DEVICE IS MOVABLE ALONG THE WARP THREADS TOWARDS THE FELL OF THE FABRIC ALONG WOVEN TO SERVE AS A WEFT BEATING MEANS. 